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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24036061">A Toast To Not Knowing (or Steven's Future Universe)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/guessbooks/pseuds/guessbooks'>guessbooks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>College/University, Established Relationship, F/M, i dont say in fic but this is in like early/mid october, it's just Steven's first weekend visiting Connie at college</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:26:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,508</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24036061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/guessbooks/pseuds/guessbooks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m actually really glad my dorm is on the first floor,” Connie admitted as she lead Steven through the entrance of the dormitory, letting go of his hand briefly to scan her student ID for the doors to open and place the card back in her phone pocket in one habitual motion. “Can you imagine if it was on the like fifth floor and Lion wanted to see me? There were already a lot of questions when some students saw me feeding ice cream through my window to a pink lion, I can’t imagine if he teleported five stories directly into my room!”</p><p>This is post canon, Steven visits Connie at college for a weekend :)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connie Maheswaran &amp; Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>110</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Toast To Not Knowing (or Steven's Future Universe)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I’m actually really glad my dorm is on the first floor,” Connie admitted as she lead Steven through the entrance of the dormitory, letting go of his hand briefly to scan her student ID for the doors to open and place the card back in her phone pocket in one habitual motion. “Can you imagine if it was on the like fifth floor and Lion wanted to see me? There were already a lot of questions when some students saw me feeding ice cream through my window to a pink lion, I can’t imagine if he teleported five stories directly into my room!” Connie laughed, smiling at Steven.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven smiled back, listening to Connie but a little too nervous to comment. Over the past few months, he had gotten a lot better at relating and talking to other humans but being introduced to Connie’s college friends for some reason still had him the slightest bit on edge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So later we’ll meet up with some of my friends, get some dinner and possibly head to a party afterward, I don’t know how tired you’ll be by then, though. You were driving all morning, after all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie turned a corner and pulled out her keys, unlocking her door, and swinging it wide.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey guys!” she said in a way of greeting. “I’m back!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In front of Steven were two students, one chilling with their feet up on the table, the other with their hand on the knob of what must be their room, jacket and backpack in hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“‘Sup. I’m Wes,” With this Wes slid his feet off the table and came forward to shake Steven’s hand. “Steven, right? Connie literally went crazy cleaning this place yesterday, so thank you! Dorm’s never looked better.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And who’s fault is it that it was so messy in the first place?” The second one huffed, grabbing an empty bag of Cheetos from the table and tossing it in the trash can on her way to Steven.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I’m Harper,” she greeted, waving her hand. “And just so you know, it was only messy because </span>
  <em>
    <span>some people</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” at this she glared in Wes’ direction, “Got tired of picking up after you and thought maybe you would learn if we stopped being your free maid service.” Her face morphing back into a carefree smile as she turned to Steven again, “Sorry </span>
  <em>
    <span>he’s </span>
  </em>
  <span>like this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven laughed, but the sound felt a little unnatural to his ears. “No problem, and I get it. Two of my, well I guess guardians? Amethyst and Pearl used to fight all the time because Pearl was tired of cleaning up after her all the time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or because Amethyst’s stuff ended up in Pearl’s room,” Connie added, smiling at the memories.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harper nodded thankfully at this. “Glad you get it. Anyway, I’m really sorry I can’t stay, I’m meeting some friends to study for a test on Tuesday, but it was nice meeting you! I hope you’ll get the chance to meet our </span>
  <em>
    <span>elusive fourth roommate</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she declares the last bit louder, her head tilted towards another bedroom door, and with this, she waves one last time and leaves.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie then went to the last bedroom door and unlocked it, stepping inside. Steven paused at the door frame briefly, looking at the whiteboard that had ‘Connie’ written in bubble letters, along with a couple of random doodles and phrases with different colors covering the rest, with different names signing them. “Feel free to draw something,” Connie called from inside, turning on her speakers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven stared at the board for a second longer, reading a message from someone named Marina. “Professional ass-saver?” Steven read aloud.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Connie laughed aloud, “Is that Marina’s? A couple of weeks ago I lent her my study guide for a philosophy exam and she swore it saved her grade. Glad I helped I guess?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven couldn’t think of anything to draw or write so instead he just walked in, hand hovering over the doorknob just a second too long.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can just close it,” Connie said, flopping on her bed as lo-fi music filled her room. “No open door rules or parents checking up every five minutes anymore, God that was annoying.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven immediately felt more at ease once the door shut, knowing how to act when it was just Connie and him. “It wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>bad,” He recounted, stepping out of his shoes and putting them next to Connie’s. “In the beginning anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Connie agreed, reaching out to Steven until he sat next to her on the bed. “But what in the world were they worried I was going to do with you with the door open at age 12 anyway? I love them, but they’ve always been a bit </span>
  <em>
    <span>much</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two then lulled into a comfortable quiet. Steven laid his head in Connie’s lap as he curled on the bed and she began threading her fingers through Steven’s thick curly hair, softly massaging his head as they talked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God I missed you,” Steven mumbled, more to himself than Connie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t imagine why, we talk every day, and I visited you twice over the summer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven slightly rolled his eyes at this. “Facetime will </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> live up to seeing you in person. Sometimes I wish I just moved to Providence Island…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey now,” Connie softly reprimanded, then rolled her eyes at Steven mumbling ‘you’re an all-star’, before continuing. “We both agreed to not let long-distance be a factor in our decisions. We can make it work, we’ve been galaxies apart before, a four-hour drive is nothing.” She gently kissed his temple.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I mean yeah,” Steven shifted then so that he was on his knees, half straddling Connie. “But even if we both agreed, even though no amount of space or time will change anything between us et cetera et cetera, we’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>allowed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to miss each other.” Steven gently cupped Connie’s chin so she was staring intensely at him. “And I still missed you, every single day we were apart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie grew quiet at this, making Steven worried for just a second until he saw a tear slide down the side of her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come here,” he said as he shifted, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled Connie into his lap, wiping the now free-flowing tears with the pad of his thumb. “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just...I missed you,” Connie stated simply, leaning forward and pressing her lips firmly against Steven’s, breaking apart almost reluctantly. “So much. But I’m trying to be supportive and rational, and I don’t want to make you feel bad about moving to Keystone. I’m glad you found Melody City, and I’m proud of everything you’ve done this year, and I meant it when I said we shouldn’t hold each other back from going wherever’s best for us individually…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you missed me.” Steven finished for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like hell.” Connie agreed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll visit more often?” He offered. “I wanted to, a couple of times before but I figured you were busy getting adjusted to college life and I didn’t want to keep you from meeting new friends and going new places just to hang out with me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t visit you on Lion a bunch because I knew your schedule is packed right now and I didn’t want to add stress making you squeeze me in,” Connie admitted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That settles it then,” Steven said definitively. “We tell each other from now on how we’re feeling, even if we think it’s one-sided or irrational.” He stuck out a pinkie finger then, Connie giggling before intertwining her pinkie with Steven’s.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Letting go, Connie smiled mischievously, shifting in Steven’s lap so that she was facing him. “Speaking of missing things-” Connie gently melded her lips to Steven’s, Steven responding in kind immediately, sighing contentedly as he wrapped his arms around Connie’s waist, pulling her in closer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, give me their names one more time I don’t want to forget them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two walked down a relatively quiet street, a couple of minutes off-campus. “Okay, but no one will be mad if you forget their names briefly. We’re meeting up with Synth, Grace, and Marcus. Synth might be bringing their boyfriend Cal, but that’s still up in the air. Synth has pink hair, well probably does, they might’ve already changed it, Grace is pretty short and has glasses, and Marcus will probably have his nose in his sketchbook. If Cal comes he’s the one who doesn’t fit any of those descriptions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded, taking in all the new information as they came up to a house. Steven blinked in surprise as Connie started up the walkway. “They all have a house?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not all,” Connie replied. “Synth and Grace live here with I think 4 other people? Not completely sure since Grace and Synth have the middle floor, so I never really see the people who live upstairs or in the basement.” Connie shrugged at this before grabbing Steven’s hand and knocking once on the door before turning the knob.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Connie!” A voice called immediately. When Steven stepped inside he smelled something baking before turning to see a girl launch herself at both of them. “And Steven! I’ve heard so much about you!” Steven guessed the Latina girl hugging him and Connie very tightly must be Grace since she wore oversized circular glasses and her arms just barely circled his midsection.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you must be Grace!” Steven laughed, instantly taking a liking to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Grace smiled as she separated from the hug. “The one and only! Darn, I just took some cookies out the oven so they’re definitely not cool enough yet, I wanted them ready by the time you came.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven was taken aback at this. “You baked cookies just because I was coming?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my gosh!” Grace laughed, “Your visit changed Connie’s entire mood recently. Over the past few weeks when we were campaigning I could tell something was weighing on her, not that she wasn’t happy with any of us or school just that she was a little homesick. Then about a week ago she came into Chem just shining and that’s when I learned you were coming this weekend! You know it’s a good couple when you can see how much they love each other even hundreds of miles apart!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie’s face was fully hot at this point, and she had started covering her face with her hands. “Graaaaace please,” she whined.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven, however, was smiling for the world to see. He wrapped his around Connie and briefly kissed the top of her head, not wanting to show too much PDA.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God you guys are cute,” Grace continued, watching the scene. “You’re lucky too Steven, because usually, I’m like a hawk to my friend’s partners, I nearly scared Cal into never coming to the house again when he started dating Synth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just then, a door shut from down the hall. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Connie?” A voice called, walking towards the group. “Oh my gosh, you guys are already here!” A person roughly Steven’s height with a shock electric purple hair outstretched their hand. “Hey, I’m Synth. And that-” A brief wave behind them, “Is Cal. And you’re Steven! Hm…” Synth looked down at Steven’s shirt, still mostly obscured by Connie who he was still holding. “Is that a Shep and Sadie shirt? I’ve heard about them! They’re an up and coming indie duo from Delmarva and Sadie used to be in Sadie Killer and the Suspects?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven blinked in complete surprise, “Uh, yeah! I actually am friends with them, they’re from my hometown, Beach City?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Synth nodded approvingly. “I’m totally into the music scene, Connie said you had great taste.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beach City? Nice, I’m not too far from there, I’m from Ocean Town!” Cal said, smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded appreciatively. “Nice!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Grace called. “Now that we’ve gotten greetings out of the way, let’s head to the living room and eat some of these delectable cookies by yours truly! Gluten-free, if anyone cares. Sorry, food allergy can’t help it, but I promise they’re still better than any other chocolate chip you’ve ever had!” With this Grace winked and, piling the cookies onto a large plate, skipped over to the couch. “Also sorry about all the clutter on the table, work for Keller’s campaign.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a local politician, right? You’re working on the campaign too?” Steven asked Connie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah it was technically for extra credit in Intro to PoliSci, but I do actually like Keller as a candidate even though I’m not from Providence Island. Grace introduced me to his campaigning office since she’s been volunteering since high school.” Connie settled between Steven and Grace on the couch. “Hey, where’s Marcus?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Grace shook her head, smiling. “What else? Late! He texted me there was some extra credit thing that ran over and he’ll meet us at dinner.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you think that means?” Synth asked, raising an eyebrow. “Extra credit? Really?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s probably just making it sound way more interesting than it actually is by being cryptic. My guess is he’s just working on his radio show.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Radio show?” Steven asked, biting into one of the cookies. Instantly his eyes turned starry, “This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> the best cookie I’ve ever had- and my friend used to own a bakery!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Grace smiled at the compliment proudly. “Aw, thank you! Also yeah, Marcus has a radio show on the university station Wednesday’s at 6. Granted, anyone can get a radio show if they sign up early enough, but his is pretty good, he talks about a bunch of different art movements and artists, pairing it with music from that era. Last week it was the Harlem Renaissance art movement paired with old jazz musicians like Thelonious Monk and stuff. It was nice, and I didn’t even know I liked jazz.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like 200 people tune in every week. Which is really good for a university radio show.” Cal added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Helps that he has a friend who also has excellent music taste, of course.” Synth smiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie shot Steven a slightly concerned look as he reached for a third cookie in under five minutes. “What, they’re really good!!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone laughed at this. “Don’t worry Steven, I froze part of the batch, you can take it with you when you go.” Grace gave him a conspiratorial wink and he grinned appreciatively.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Steven,” Cal started, “You can totally shut me down if you want but the mystery of you has been killing me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mystery?” Steven questioned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Connie has been pretty quiet about you, but in the past few minutes, I’ve learned you’re friends with rockstars and bakers and I’m kind of intrigued. Who is this Steven that stands before me?” Cal questioned this last part in a bad British accent, Synth immediately groaning at his cheesiness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Steven looked away, wondering how much he should tell, “Well, my name’s Steven Universe. I-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” Synth said suddenly. “I am so sorry for cutting you off but are you Greg Universe’s son? Like, the former musician Mr. Universe’s son?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven smiled, “I didn’t know people still knew Dad as a musician.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he’s like the burger commercial guy, right?” Cal asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OH MY GOD.” Synth looked horrified at their boyfriend. “The commercial just licensed his song ‘Comet’! I literally played you the album last week.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cal complained that it was hard to keep the stuff Synth showed him straight when nearly every time they hung out they showed him a new album, but Steven had stopped listening. “Wait- You’ve heard my Dad’s music? He only sold like, 1,000 CDs and that was like 20 years ago.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know!” Synth cheered, practically glowing. “One of my friend’s found a CD of ‘Space Train to the Cosmos’ in their dad’s old junk, listened to it and LOVED it, ripped it, and uploaded it to TubeYou! Classic 90’s rock sound is coming back, and where best to find that sound than the source! Your dad’s album is having its own renaissance right now,” Synth pulled out their phone while they talked, pulling up a playlist with all of the songs, each with a couple hundred thousand views.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s so cool!” Connie looked amazed at the phone. “Hey, wait Steven- don’t you have another album of your dad’s in the Dondai? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Let Me Drive My Van (Into Your Heart)?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OH MY GOSH If you do, can I borrow it and post it online? Of course, now that I’m friends with the </span>
  <em>
    <span>son</span>
  </em>
  <span> of the artist you should ask your dad if it’s chill if I upload it probably,” Synth added the last bit somewhat sheepishly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah of course! I’ll ask dad before we head out later.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, now </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span> intrigued,” Grace tilted her head toward Steven. “What </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>the mystery of Steven?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, wait, wait.” Marcus shook his head as the group entered Chipotle. The group debated jokingly if they should go to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Pepe’s Burger’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> now that someone burger jingle fame adjacent was in their midst, but ultimately they decided on Chipotle, even if Pepe’s veggie burgers and salads aren’t actually half bad.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me see if I got this,” Marcus continued, “You’re the son of a rockstar and an intergalactic fascist oligarch? You saved the entire universe before you turned 15 and have a bunch of superpowers.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded in a ‘more or less’ sort of way. “Yeah, basically. Except you missed the part where right now, I’m just the hungry boyfriend of this one.” Connie rolled her eyes good-naturedly as they all stepped in line.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Solid.” Marcus fist bumped Steven before turning around to give his food order.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After they all got through the line, Grace turned towards Steven, “So do you want to be a music teacher in a school eventually? It’d make sense since you founded Little Homeschool and love music.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Steven scratched the back of his head. “The short answer is no. Long answer: I don’t know? ...And I’m kind of okay with that right now. I have no clue what I want to do long term and just kind of doing whatever feels right for me right now, took a lot of therapy to get me there, though,” Steven chuckles at this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Valid.” Cal raised his coke to Steven. “To not knowing!” Everyone chorused in kind, clinking their drinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Connie finally broke in, “So, I think the grilling of Steven is officially over, everyone’s curiosity quenched?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone in the group nodded, with a few chuckles and a ‘Hey, I just got here!’ from Marcus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven had already decided before, but he really liked Connie’s new group of friends. And they liked him, too, which is always nice since if he visited more he wouldn’t want to feel like he was dragging them all down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group fell into easy conversation as they left the restaurant to walk to Synth’s friend Eve’s house party, floating between good new Netflix shows to school and work drama.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I heard </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Witcher</span>
  </em>
  <span> is actually pretty good if you get through the first couple of episodes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t it kind of like Game of Thrones though? I can’t do gory fight scenes!” Grace scrunched up her nose. “I loved the new season of Sex Education, though!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That came out months ago!” Synth groaned, “You just finished it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was busy!” she defended, then turned toward Connie. “What was that show that you wanted me to watch by the way? Vampire anime…?” Grace gestured vaguely, trying to figure out the name.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Castlevania!” Connie exclaimed. “It’s so good, and I’m going to ignore that you just summarized it as a ‘vampire anime’, it’s a series based on a videogame like The Witcher, it’s so well done and underrated- Steven just finished 3 seasons in a week!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded at this. “No yeah, when you hear Dracula, his son with daddy issues, and the Catholic church it sounds really weird but apparently it also makes an amazing show.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group came up to Eve’s street, which had cars packed the driveway and all down the street. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Being carless sometimes has its perks,” Marcus looked at a couple of cars trying to find a spot before turning up the next street. “Not having to find parking.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Guys, hey!” A girl walked up to the group smiling, then noticed Steven. “Ah, you must be Connie’s boyfriend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Steven,” Steven waved his hand in greeting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The girl gave an easy smile. “Well, I’m Eve and welcome! If you have a jacket or anything you can put it in that room over there if you want, uhhm let’s see keg and drinks are upstairs and the show will be starting in like 30 minutes but everybody’s just vibing for now. Happy you came!” With this Eve hugged Synth waved to everyone and disappeared into the kitchen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Show?” Steven asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did I forget to tell you? A couple of local bands are playing tonight, Eve is the lead singer in Ukulyptus- it’s gonna be awesome, trust me.” Synth and Cal then headed towards the steps, everyone more or less scattering this way and that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Connie and Steven reached the upstairs landing, he could’ve sworn the temperature jumped 20 degrees. “Ugh, it’s so warm up here.” She grimaced, scrunching her nose up in an adorable way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weaving through the people, they got to the drink station. Steven grabbed a coke as Connie filled up a cup with beer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is like ninety percent foam,” she intoned as they stepped away. “You don’t mind if I drink?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven shook his head. “I’m just not supposed to overdo it with alcohol on the anxiety meds but ‘don’t overdo it’ is vague so-” he lifted his Coke in lieu of finishing the sentence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They wandered around, watching Cal dominate a game of beer pong and Grace surprisingly dominate round after round at Super Smash Brothers Ultimate before the crackling of speakers alerted everyone that the show was about to start.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next floor of the house was just a kind of large room, which served its purpose as a mini concert space well. The first band, which was more just a guy vibing with a loop board was pretty good Steven thought. He looked over to Connie who looked a little uncomfortable at the front of the crowd. He discreetly pulled her over to the back which was way less packed. “What’s up?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s just really crowded and loud and hot up here,” Connie said leaning up into his ear so she didn’t have to yell over the sound. “I’m used to less people or a place to kind of hide away.” She blushed, feeling a bit stupid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven led her back to the second floor. There were just a couple of people still playing Smash in one room and one couple intensely making out on the couch. Steven pried open the window, pretty sure the couple wouldn’t notice. He held out his hand to Connie, who took it with a question in her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He carefully edged himself onto the edge of the second-story roof and Connie followed, then wrapped his arms around her and jumped up, gently floating onto the third story roof. The third story window was open so the music was clear, and the night air was cool.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven laid down easily on the roof and Connie laid down next to him. “Better?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie simply laid her head against Steven’s chest as Ukulyptus started playing, the ukulele alt-punk music filtering out into the starry night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was around 2 am when Steven and Connie arrived at Jefferson Hall dormitory. “Sorry for keeping you out late, I know you have kind of a long drive tomorrow.” Connie apologized as she swiped in and they walked into the lobby, headed towards her room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can sleep anytime, I wanted to hang out with you this weekend.” Steven wrapped his arms around Connie and squeezed lightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie laughed, trying to wiggle her arms out of his hold. “Okay, okay, but I still have to open the door.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He relented and they both slipped into the dorm and Connie’s bedroom quietly, trying not to wake up her roommates.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Almost instantly when Connie switched on the light to her room and shut the door Steven lifted her up, Connie reflexively wrapped her legs around his torso, squeaking in surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven muffled a laugh, “Shhh don’t want to wake your roommates.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie furrowed her eyebrows at him, a smile still teasing her lips, “Then you shouldn’t pick me up so suddenly without warning!” She swatted at his arm lightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead of responding Steven simply interlocked his lips with Connie’s, pressing her back gently against the door. He could feel her body relax into his, Connie wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven awoke to his phone ringing. He ignored it, cuddling closer to Connie but she was already stirring, and leaning down and fumbling around to pull out Steven’s phone from his pants’ pocket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Turn it off,” she grumbled, pushing the still ringing phone into Steven’s chest, eyes still closed in an act of sleepy defiance from waking up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven answered the phone with a very tired “Hello?”. It was the coffee shop he worked at part time, asking when he was getting in. Trying to mask his annoyance he reminded his manager he was out of town and his coworker had traded him shifts. The conversation soon ended and Steven checked the time. 6:20 am. Twenty minutes late if he had a shift this Sunday. He leaned over Connie to plug his phone into her charger and laid back down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie was awake now, watching him quietly. Steven kissed her on her forehead briefly, before pulling her close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you think you’re gonna go back for Thanksgiving? To Beach City I mean?” She asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh…” Steven looked out the window. “I don’t think so… It’s overtime pay if I work on Thanksgiving.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie hummed at this. “Maybe I’ll visit you during Thanksgiving break? Friday through Sunday and if you’re working I can just finish whatever essays and stuff I’m sure they’ll assign at your place. Better than doing homework at my house, anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why is it better…?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie shifted slightly, swatting his arm playfully. “‘Cuz I’ll get to see you, dummy, gosh you love making it hard to be romantic!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven smiled softly at this, leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder, lips hovering there for a moment. “I’ll try to make it easier for you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two soon dozed off again in each other’s arms. In a couple more hours Steven’s phone would ring again, but it would be his alarm telling him he needed to get going. The two would hug tightly at his car, Steven remembering in a split second to give Connie an old CD of Let Me Drive My Van (Into Your Heart) for Synth. They had gotten used to this type of goodbye, slightly more longing than most but both always knowing they’d talk to each other later that day.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, my first published Steven Universe fic! I love and have always loved Connie and Steven and their best friendship into relationship throughout the series this could turn into a multi-chapter fic (the next chap would be Steven in Melody City and the life he has there with probably brief Connie?) but I am very bad at committing to multi-chapter stories so idk... comment if you would want that I guess? That's probably the only way it'll happen lol. No matter what, thank you so much for reading!!! ^_^</p></blockquote></div></div>
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